


Torn and Frayed

by justheretobreakthings



Series: Torn and Frayed [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, BAMF Allura (Voltron), Gen, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Keith (Voltron) Whump, Slave Trade, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-11
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-26 06:38:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17740769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justheretobreakthings/pseuds/justheretobreakthings
Summary: Voltron has finally managed to track down Keith after his capture on a Blade mission, and Allura is faced with the sordid task of buying him back.





	Torn and Frayed

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [this](http://heartlesslywhumping.tumblr.com/post/182348513049) prompt by heartlesslywhumping on tumblr.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Don’t fidget. Keep your expression neutral. Just act  _natural_.

Allura kept repeating the instructions in her head, but it wasn’t easy for her to act natural right now. Because there was absolutely nothing natural about what was going on right now, and she wanted nothing more than to scream or tear her hair out or grab the Guluvian who stood in front of her, examining the “identification” that Pidge and Coran had printed up for her, by the neck and throw him across the room.

But she couldn’t. Not until she had found Keith.

If the other paladins had had it their way, they would have been standing by ready to raid the place, guns blazing. Allura herself had been furious too, when Kolivan had informed them exactly where the Blade had been when Keith had been captured, and who had gotten their hands on him, but she had to keep her head.

After all, in these parts of the universe, slave trafficking was perfectly legal. And as despicable as it was, there was nothing Voltron could do about that, at least nothing that would yield immediate results. Even when they had managed to, through a long and arduous process of tracking and questioning, figure out which trader most likely had Keith in his possession now, they couldn’t very well come crashing down and shooting up his base of operations.

Pidge had been the first to suggest doing just such a thing, but Coran had talked her down, reasoning that it would compromise not only Keith’s safety, but that of anyone else on site. And even if that hadn’t been a factor, it wouldn’t do any good against the trade in the long run. Discovering that Voltron was on the offense against the slave trade in these galaxies would only lead to traders being more secretive and on higher defense. Meaning chances of rescuing anyone else trapped in the trade would plummet.

No, they needed to do this quietly, and quickly. Allura was selected to do the job as she was the most inconspicuous. All the other paladins were, outwardly, the same rare species as Keith, and Coran was from a race meant to be extinct. Any of them going to the buyer would put him on the alert immediately. Allura, though, with her ability to morph her appearance, could pass easily for a citizen from the trading post’s neighboring planet of Linitov, so she could make the transaction with no suspicions being aroused.

Which was how she had wound up here, alone at a Guluvian trading post, finally having located the trader the team had spent the last few movements tracking down, her false ID and trade permit under the eye of a security guard.

And with enough GAC in her pockets to buy Keith back.

The guard nodding and passed her papers back to her before allowing Allura inside, and she stepped through the doorway, holding back a shudder. Act natural, she reminded herself. Don’t act nervous, don’t act suspicious.

“Ah, you’re the buyer who sent the missive ahead?” a voice asked, and she turned to see a Guluvian, tall and broad and ruby-skinned and six-armed, coming through another wide door.

“I am,” Allura said. “And you are Kadrek, I presume?”

“The very same,” the trader replied, taking one of Allura’s hands in three of his to shake. “Charmed to make your acquaintance.”

“Yours as well,” Allura said, the words bitter in her mouth. “You said you would be able to let me have a look at your wares.”

“Of course, of course!” Kadrek said, pulling open the door he’d just come though. “If you’ll walk this way. I think you will be quite impressed with my selection.”

Allura followed him through the door, breathing in, breathing out, and they entered what looked to be a small warehouse. A faint ferrous odor hit her nose as the door closed behind them, and she could feel her expression tighten as see looked about her surroundings. The storeroom was brightly lit, and two rows of what took her a shocked moment to accept in her mind were  _cages_  took up the sides, leaving a walkway in between, that a couple of other guards patrolled. The cages had walls of what looked like glass, but no doubt were made of some less breakable material, on either side, and narrow bars filled the side of the cage that faced outward.

And in each cage, an alien. All looked to be different species from what Allura could tell, in varying color shades and sizes. Some looked more like animals, quadrupeds roaming cages too small for them. While others…

There were people. There were people in these cages, glancing toward her and Kadrek with varying levels of defiance and fear as they made their way down the row.

“I take great pride in the stock I keep,” Kadrek was saying to her as they walked, although the words were muffled somewhat by the dizziness Allura felt at comprehending the reality of what she was looking at. “All are well-disciplined, healthy, and of the highest quality for a wide variety of needs. All the information you need is here on their placards, like so.”

He gestured to a card on the door of the cage of a particularly furry specimen, and Allura leaned in to read the Guluvian writing:  _“Species: Kibbollan. Estimated age: thirty-five decaphoebs. No restraints needed. Ideal for: hard labor, breeding.”_

“I see,” Allura said, taking care to keep her voice even. “That’s very… thorough.”

“I take great pride in what I do,” Kadrek said. “Now, depending on what sort of service you would like your purchase to provide, you may be interested in - ”

But Allura didn’t hear the rest, because her eyes had fallen on another cage with a familiar figure inside. Her stomach twisted into knots as she left Kadrek’s side to slowly approach the cage. Despite all the evidence, there was a part of her that had been hoping against reason that they had been wrong, that they had been on what Lance called a ‘wild goose chase’ all this time, and that Keith had not wound up in the middle of all of this… mess.

The knot in her stomach hardened as she read the placard:  _“Species: Galra and Unknown. Estimated age: twenty decaphoebs. Restraints and additional discipline recommended. Ideal for: household, breeding, pleasure/entertainment.”_

She sucked in a breath as her eyes drifted to the cage’s occupant. He was half-lying on the floor, half-sitting, and had her back toward her, but there was no mistaking him, not with that signature mullet and the recognizable build. He was shirtless and barefoot, loose-fitting pants that looked a size too big for him his only garment, and without the shirt his back was in full view. His back, partly blocked by the hands cuffed tightly behind him, coated in gashes crisscrossing from his shoulders to his hips, some healed into pink scars, some fresh and bold and scarlet.

 _“Additional discipline recommended,”_  the placard had read. Allura felt like she was going to throw up. Keith never would be one to submit easily to a situation like this - and apparently, he’d paid the price for his troubles.

“Oh, Keith,” she whispered, too softly for Kadrek to hear her, but apparently loudly enough for Keith, because he jolted at the voice and, slowly, turned around.

Allura stared at Keith’s face as he turned to her - or, at least, half of his face, the half that wasn’t covered by a sturdy metal muzzle that sent a chill down her spine. A gash above one of his brows sent blood trickling down alongside a blackened eye, and both his eyes bore bags reminiscent of the ones Shiro wound up with after days of insomnia. Those eyes were narrowed in suspicion when Keith turned, but soon widened in recognition.

Keith tried to say something, but it was blocked by the muzzle. Probably a reflexive, “What are you doing here?” or something along those lines. For a single moment, Allura was grateful that the muzzle had kept Keith from blowing her cover; in the next moment, she realized to her horror that she had been  _grateful that Keith was muzzled,_  and she wanted to kick herself.

“See anything you like?” Kadrek asked from behind her.

Breathe in, breathe out. Don’t seem too eager, Coran had told her; if the trader knew how desperately she needed to get Keith out of there, he’d up the price, maybe even stretch out negotiations into a second visit. So she kept her face as straight as possible, her tone bored, as she asked, “How much for the mutt?”

Keith’s eyes widened further, and he brought his feet toward himself - feet which Allura now noticed were shackled just like his hands, and  _stars_ , she could feel her blood physically begin to boil at the state of him - and inched away from her. She didn’t know what was going through his head right now. Maybe her Linitovian disguise was good enough that he thought he had been mistaken in recognizing her, or maybe - even worse - he took her tone and her question at face value. She prayed it was the former.

“That particular specimen is not for sale,” Kadrek said. “But if you’re interested in something similar - ”

Allura whipped around, her heart in her throat. “What?!” she said, momentarily forgetting that she was supposed to act uninterested. “What do you mean, not for sale?!”

“Well, that one’s already been promised to another buyer, you see.”

“Another buyer?”

Kadrek nodded. “Been in negotiations for that one for a little while now. A beauty, isn’t it? Recent acquisition of mine, bought it off a Badunusian ship for a steal. They thought he was a bit too, ah, untamable to fetch a good price.” He grinned a many-toothed grin and knelt down closer to eye level with Keith. “But we proved them wrong, didn’t we?” Keith ducked his head, and Allura’s gaze lingered on the raised welts across his chest to match the ones on his back, and again she felt like she was going to throw up.

“Buyer was in here yesterday to test it out,” Kadrek continued as he straightened up. “Got his approval. Like I said, I only stock the best. Which, as you can see if you’ll come this way, I’ve got some still up for grabs with very similar attributes to - ”

“What do you mean, test it out?”

Kadrek tapped on the placard, right onto the Guluvian symbols spelling out 'pleasure’. “I don’t mark them for their recommended jobs if I’m not sure they’ll be a fit.”

This time Allura  _did_  throw up, just a little, enough that she could swallow the sour bile back down as she turned her horrified gaze back to Keith. His head was still ducked low, but through his bangs she could see the tear that had managed to squeeze its way out of one eye, and the redness of his face.

No, she thought. No, no, no, not that, not Keith. Kadrek was lying, he had to be.

But one more look at the shame etched onto Keith’s face assured her that, no, he wasn’t.

She had to get him out of here.

“How much is the other buyer paying for him?” she asked, turning back to Kadrek.

“Ma'am, the deal’s already gone through,” Kadrek said. “Buyer’s coming by later to pick him up. I’m not selling to you.”

“Whatever he’s paying, I’ll double it,” Allura said. By the ancients, please, _please,_  let the amount of GAC she had be enough to double it.

“Like I’ve said, I take great pride in my work. And I run a respectable operation. When I say I’m selling to someone, my word is as good as gold. I can’t back out of the sale.”

“Please. I’ll triple it.” She knew how clear the desperation in her voice must be, and how undesirable a bidding war would be right now, but she didn’t care. All she cared about was getting Keith out of there, and  _now_.

Kadrek raised a brow and crossed his top set of arms. “You really got a keenness for this one, huh?”

Allura nodded. “Yes. I do.”

“Well, I’ll tell you what.” Kadrek approached the lock of the cage and took it in his hand. A whine escaped past Keith’s muzzle as he tried to scramble back. “The buyer’s not coming by until tonight, Kadrek continued, "And he made no stipulations about this one not being put to use in the meantime. So, for a fee, I can give you as much as two vargas with it. We’ve got a couple of spare rooms for your privacy.” His smile broadened. “And, you have my personal guarantee of quality. My buyer’s not the only one who took this one out for a test run, so I can assure - ”

And in an instant, Kadrek was cut off as his head was rammed into a bar of the cage and he sank to the floor. It took Allura a moment to realize that it was her own fist that had sent him there. Her hand throbbed in time with the furious pumping of her blood, but all of her focus was on Keith’s huddled and shaking frame.

Someone shouted, and running footsteps approached her. Quiznak. She had forgotten there were other guards here. It didn’t matter, though. She let adrenaline guide her as she whipped out her bayard, smashing the lock off of the cage and practically ripping the door off its hinges.

She didn’t waste a moment in scooping Keith up and slinging him over her shoulder, elbowing aside one guard who tried to grab her and sending another across the room at the business end of her bayard’s glowing whip. Screams and clatters and a whole cacophony erupted from the surrounding cages, and if Allura had had time for it, she would have gone to each of those locks and released the whole storeroom.

But she didn’t have time. She had Keith. And she had to get out of there before further security arrived from outside.

Allura barreled back to the entry of the storeroom, Keith bouncing against her shoulder and groaning into his muzzle, that  _damned_  muzzle, and Allura wanted to remove it, to throw it aside and get those damned shackles off of his wrists and ankles and get every scrap of evidence of what had happened far, far away from him, but she didn’t have time. All she had time for was running forward through, ignoring shouts of alarm from other buyers milling about and orders to halt from security workers, gritting her teeth and barreling forward until she was in the waiting maw of Blue.

She laid Keith down onto the floor of the cockpit as she let herself fade back to Altean form. Even without her at the controls, the floor moved beneath her as Blue lifted into the air, clearly aware that they needed to get out of there and fast, and Allura was grateful. She didn’t think she could focus on flying right now.

“Keith?” she said softly as she knelt down next to him. He was shaking, hard, and there were dark red spots that were soon to be bruises along his abdomen where he had been bouncing against her shoulder. “Keith, can you - can you look at me?”

Keith obeyed, turning toward her, and the Keith she knew should have stubbornly kept his gaze away until she insisted, just because he could.

_“Additional discipline recommended.”_

What all had happened to him during the time he was gone?

She tried not to think about it as she lifted her hand and said. “I - I’m going to get that muzzle off, okay?” She wanted to get those shackles off too, but those were locked tight. Pidge or Hunk would have to remove those once they got back. For now she focused on the muzzle. Keith flinched as she touched the clasp behind his head, partly hidden behind his hair, and she took no offense to it. She simply moved the muzzle away, wincing at the red indents it left along his jaw and over his nose.

Keith took a few deep, grateful breaths through his mouth before he turned to Allura with watering eyes and said in a raspy whisper, “Thank you.”

Allura nodded. “Do you need some water?” Of course he did, who knows how long he’d had that muzzle on. Without waiting for an answer, she got up to grab one of the water pouches from Blue’s emergency kit. “Sorry I can’t uncuff you yet,” she said as she returned and held the pouch near Keith’s face, the straw toward his mouth. “I can’t - the locks, I have to wait 'til - ”

“S'alright,” Keith rasped before taking a gulp of the water. Allura let him sip for several ticks before she moved the pouch away.

“Sorry,” she said again. “Can’t give you too much, you’ll throw it up. Are - are you - ” She bit her lip. She wanted to ask, “Are you all right?” but there was no reason to. She knew Keith would say that he was fine. And she knew it would be a total and utter lie.

“Are you up to talking about it?” she asked instead, and new tears welled up as Keith pursed his lips and shook his head. Allura didn’t blame him.

 _“Allura?”_  a voice she recognized as Coran’s sounded from Blue dashboard comm.  _“Allura, it looks like Blue’s in motion. Were you able to get Keith?”_

Allura cleared her throat before turning toward the dashboard and calling, “Yes, I got him.”

 _“How is he?”_  another voice, Shiro’s, asked.

She looked back at Keith, who had brought his knees up toward his chest and buried his head in them. How the hell was she supposed to answer that? “Ready a pod,” she said in a crackling voice in lieu of an answer.

_“That doesn’t - ”_

“I’ll explain when we get back,” Allura said. She turned back to Keith, kneeling down again and edging toward him. “Keith?” she said, softly, so that the comm wouldn’t pick up her voice. “Do you, er, do you want me to - to tell the others - to tell them what - ?”

“Not yet,” Keith whispered. “Not - not yet. I can’t, not yet, they can’t - ”

Allura shushed him gently as she scooted closer. “I won’t tell them yet, not if you don’t want me to.”

“They’ll find out eventually,” Keith mumbled. “I can’t - I can’t keep secrets from Shiro. And when I go back to the B-blade, Kolivan will want to know what - ”

“Let’s not think about that right now,” Allura said. Honestly, at the moment, she hated the idea of Keith going back to the Blade. Not after what had happened. She wanted to keep Keith in the castle, where she would know where he was, that he was safe, and she had a feeling she wasn’t the only paladin feeling this way. “Let’s just - let’s just focus on now. And you’re safe now. You’re safe.”

“Okay,” Keith said softly.

They were silent for a long moment, and then Allura held out an inviting arm. “Would, er - would it help to - ?”

She didn’t even need to finish before Keith had practically buried himself in her open arms, shaking like a leaf and sobbing into her shoulders. With his arms still cuffed the way they were, he couldn’t return the hug, but Allura made up for that by encircling him completely, careful to only hover her hands over his back, not touching the wounds that had been dug into the bare flesh.

“Shh, shh, I know, it’s okay,” she whispered, even though she didn’t, and it wasn’t. “You’re safe. You’re safe.

"You’re safe.”


End file.
